A Prairie Home Companion: June 12, 2004

Special Guests
Saturday, June 12, 2004

18-year old violinist Bella Hristova was born in Bulgaria and began playing violin when she was six. When she came to the United States in 1999, she started studying with Stephen Shipps at the Meadowmount School of Music in New York State and the University of Michigan School of Music. Her awards and recognitions are countless. In 1999, she won First Prize at the International Enesco Competition in Bucharest, Romania. One month later, she won the Grand Prize in the Michigan American String Teachers Competition. And the recognition continues: 2001 Grand Prize Winner of the International Kocian Competition in the Czech Republic, a performer on the NPR show From the Top with pianist Christopher O'Riley, and concertmaster of the Michigan Youth Orchestra at the University of Michigan.

Mezzo-soprano Janis Hardy has performed major roles at leading opera houses around the country, including the Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera Company, and Minnesota Opera, where she created roles in more than 20 world premieres. She has been a soloist with most of the Twin Cities' major performing arts organizations, including Minnesota Orchestra (soloing under Edo DeWaart, Neville Marriner and others), The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies and Hugh Wolff, among others) and VocalEssence with Philip Brunelle. She has been a featured artist for Sommerfest, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Aldeburgh Festival in England. Hardy performed with Garrison Keillor and Philip Brunelle on the 1994 holiday compilation recording Now It is Christmas Again, and can be heard in Sopranorama with Molly Sue McDonald and Maria Jette. Hardy is an associate professor of voice at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.

Leo Kottke was born in Athens, Georgia, but grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he began playing the trombone. Kottke learned theory and harmony from playing the trombone, but was introduced to his instrument of choice, the guitar, by his mom. When he was twelve she bought him a dime-store guitar to entertain him when he was sick with mono. Kottke is now a self-taught guitarist who is renowned as one of the most innovative acoustic guitarists of all time. He has released 25 albums and recorded with such artists as Rickie Lee Jones, Lyle Lovett, and John Gorka, although he usually performs solo. Kottke plays and writes music for the guitar and tours all over the U.S., Australia, and Europe. He was also installed in Guitar Player Magazine's Hall of Fame.